|
Sept 08: Humans constantly interact with their surroundings as part of the biosphere. And the biosphere exists not only around us, but also within us. This is highlighted in a scientific article from the Anthropocene Laboratory at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The article summarizes key insights that can help us manage disruptions to this delicate balance – disruptions caused by factors such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
What does being intertwined with nature entail? A group of researchers and an artist have collaborated in a new study from the Anthropocene Laboratory at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, to demonstrate how the human body works as an open, living system that constantly interacts with its surroundings.
“Humanity is completely dependent on a living biosphere, and we are intertwined within a system that affects our gut, our skin and our breathing, as well as our food and our water. Soils, plants and animals provide and transport essential functions for us every day, but we are only just beginning to understand these interactions and how we can support them,” says Carl Folke, lead author of the article published today in the environmental science journal Ambio.
The web of life
The study shows how organisms – from bacteria and fungi to birds and whales – interact in the web of life, which carries the flow of chemical elements and nutrients that are essential to human wellbeing and bodily functioning.
Carl Folke gives an example of how soil microorganisms help humans absorb trace elements that are vital for our health. When water evaporates from forests in one part of the world, it ensures agricultural production in another. And nutrients from the deep oceans are incorporated in the fish and shellfish we eat.
The challenges entailed by an increasingly changing biosphere – in which chemical pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss are reshaping living systems – also mean alterations in the fragile conditions for human life. However, a deeper understanding of how humanity is intertwined with these systems can help us find ways to better care for our planet, as well as the many invisible relationships that nourish and build our bodies.
Crucial questions
“Alongside international colleagues from the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, medicine and the arts, we have worked to bring together scientific knowledge from a range of disciplines and provide a comprehensive picture of humanity’s relationships with other organisms and chemical elements. Seeing how different disciplines approach these crucial questions of survival is incredibly exciting,” says Henrik Österblom, director of the Anthropocene Laboratory
The study also features a new artwork by Tone Bjordam, which illustrates much of what is summarised in the article. (See the artwork at kva.se)
FACTS/The Anthropocene Laboratory
The Anthropocene Laboratory at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences brings together perspectives and knowledge from the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities and other fields. Its aim is to promote a holistic view of the Anthropocene (the time period when humanity decisively impacts the Earth’s climate, ecosystems and geology) and to help meet the growing need for scientifically based knowledge that will pave the way towards sustainability. In doing so, the laboratory wants to help shape a generation of researchers who collaborate across disciplinary and geographical boundaries. Its activities are funded by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation and the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation.
|
